Greetings from Honduras!

We're having an incredible week!  I'm exhausted but it's a good kind of tired, one that comes from a sense of accomplishment. Time to highlight just a few things:
-Spending three nights in La Laguana was wonderful and taxing  at the same time.  Two services in the dark in their half completed worship shelter.  Meeting Pastor Begnino and some strong believers intent on spreading the gospel throught these mountains. Sleeping in a 2 room house and sharing it with a setting hen and scorpion. Fighting the mud from the rain we had. Hiking down, way down to the river and enjoying the magnificent scenery of God's creation. Being heartbroken over the unbelievable needs we have encountered--children with terrible vision but no way to pay for eye care, unsanitary/unhealthy living conditions, hunger, and much more...

-Our team is made up of people with a great passion to show and share the love of Christ. Our Honduran support team has provided excellent leadership for us. The rest of the team is in El Membrillal. I was so looking forward to that part of the trip, but have had responsibilities teaching and preaching elsewhere. I'm praying that tonight might see the first person saved in that village!

-I had the opportunity of preaching in a church in El Zapote last night and I was the one who received such a great blessing from their worship team, pastor and 70 attentive participants!  During the day I led a study on prayer and thought of someone in our congregation as I talked about turning problems into opportunitie! This morning we fought through muddy almost impassable roads to get to a small group at what seemed like the top of the world for training. What an adventure. I've got to stop, but I've left so much out.

Pray for me as I preach to a congregation here in Victoria tonight and get ready to come home on Saturday.  I can't say thank you enough to those who have been praying this week. I've needed your prayers and they have been felt!

I pray you have sensed God's presence, blessing and purpose in your life today!

Honduras Adventure With Mercy and Grace Ministry!!!

I don't know when I have ever been so excited to participate in a mission trip, and now our flight is just a few hours from taking off.  All the preparation is complete and we will soon see what the Lord has in store for us there.

Thanks to my East Baptist family for your generous support in helping me to go.  Your gifts have left me almost speechless.  I have told several people that it's in my heart to be going more often to this mission field that is ready to harvest.  You might just speed along my dreams!

I will be dividing my time between two projects while we are there.  I will be working to help train several groups of pastors who are hungry for all the Bible and church formation instruction they can get.  One other team member and I will be focused on this effort.  I am also hopeful that I can spend a good amount of time in the two villages where the rest of the team will be working.

Pray for the village of La Laguna.  There is a small church there.  We will be building an open air shelter for/with them to provide a place in which they can worship.  We'll also be doing work with the children and bringing school supplies and gifts for them.

The second village in which we will spend most of the remainder of our time is El Membrillal.  There are no known believers there.  Their chief has expressed an interest in the gospel and the door is wide open for us to freely share God's love with the people.  Pray with us that the chief and others would be saved in the near future!

If I can get an internet connection I'll try to update this blog sometime during the week to let everyone know how things are going.  That might prove to be tricky as the villages do not have electricity!  Perhaps I will be fortunate enough to find an internet cafe in one of the towns where we will be teaching.

God bless you all and thank Him that He is still working and changing lives around the world!  All nations will bless His holy name!
--Pastor Jon